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"Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers once worked the McDonald&amp;#39;s drive-through. Now she&amp;#39;s the highest-ranking Republican woman in Congress (and a mom of three!). She talks to Glamour&amp;#39;s Cindi Leive about going for it at work&amp;#8212;even if you&amp;#39;re not totally sure you&amp;#39;re ready.\nPinterestFacebookRep. McMorris Rodgers, at right, with Leive\nWhen women are in charge everywhere from the Federal Reserve to the pitching mound at the Little League World Series, it&amp;#39;s easy to forget that politics is still a male-dominated game: Women make up just 18.5 percent of Congress. Which makes Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), 45, especially refreshing. She came to Washington, D.C., in 2005 as a single 35-year-old; since then, she&amp;#39;s built both a family (becoming the first woman to have three kids while in Congress) and a stellar career: She chairs the House Republican Conference and she gave the 2014 GOP rebuttal to President Obama&amp;#39;s State of the Union speech, calmly laying out her views from her Capitol office, one of Congress&amp;#39;s coveted &amp;quot;hideaways.&amp;quot; So how&amp;#39;d a girl who loathed public speaking make it all happen? Ahead of the midterm elections, I went (where else?) to her hideaway to find out.\nCL: It&amp;#39;s been a swift rise for you! I want to go back to your early days, working at McDonald&amp;#39;s. What did you learn there?\nCMR: I learned good customer service: Keep that smile on your face. They&amp;#39;ve now rebuilt that McDonald&amp;#39;s, [and] I&amp;#39;m going to go celebrate the reopening and work the drive-through!\nCL: You were first in your family to graduate from college. What inspired you to do that?\nCMR: It was [my parents&amp;#39;] dream for me.... We owned an orchard and fruit stand, and maybe some years didn&amp;#39;t go as well as we&amp;#39;d hoped.... [But] my parents were optimists, and they wanted me to have the opportunity for a better life.... Part of it was figuring out how to pay for college. For as long as I can remember, I was saving. [I got] my first savings account when I sold 4-H animals at the fair. I had a lamb and a steer!\nCL: You joined the Washington state legislature at 24. Had politics been a dream of yours in high school?\nCMR: No...! [Laughs.] I&amp;#39;m not someone that they probably would have thought most likely to run for office.... I dreaded the speeches I had to give in high school. I changed majors in college to avoid debate.\nCL: Really? This from the woman who gave the State of the Union response?\nCMR: Exactly. I got into politics working on a friend&amp;#39;s campaign. I was attracted to making a difference...[but when] I was appointed to the state legislature, that was a big decision. I had a lot of doubts.\nCL: What was your reaction?\nCMR: That I wasn&amp;#39;t ready. Maybe when I&amp;#39;m older, have had a career, married, had a family. I hesitated, and yet other people had confidence in me. My boss, who had become state senator, encouraged me.... [About 10 years later] when I was mentioned as a candidate for Congress, I didn&amp;#39;t think it was for me. The former member of Congress from my district said, &amp;quot;Cathy, you&amp;#39;d do a great job.&amp;quot; That meant a lot.\nCL: Many of the high-profile women I interview say they&amp;#39;ve experienced impostor syndrome, the feeling of &amp;quot;How did I get to be doing this?&amp;quot; Do you feel that?\nCMR: Yes.... It&amp;#39;s still hard for me to believe what I&amp;#39;m doing.\nCL: You were at a Christmas party when you got the call about giving the State of the Union response. Were you expecting it?\nCMR: Totally unexpected! I got a message from the Speaker of the House [Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio)]. This Speaker does not call a lot. When I called back, he said, &amp;quot;We&amp;#39;d like to ask you if you&amp;#39;d give the Republican address.&amp;quot; ...I said, &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;ll give it my best.&amp;quot; And his response was &amp;quot;Don&amp;#39;t overthink it. Be yourself.&amp;quot; ...Women are our own hardest critics. We think we need to dress differently or talk differently. To hear him say that was freeing, but then there was a part of me&amp;#8212;how exactly do I be myself?\nCL: So how did you go from avoiding debate to being comfortable in front of the cameras and speaking to millions?\nCMR: Practice helps. I learned that in school. I do better when I prepare and think it through. I think everyone does.\nCL: That speech has been tough for some of your predecessors, most famously Marco Rubio [R.-Fla.] reaching for a water bottle [in 2013]. How&amp;#39;d you prepare?\nCMR: [Congressman] Paul Ryan [R-Wis.] said, &amp;quot;Cathy, something happens when the lights go on and they say, &amp;#39;Live!&amp;#39;&amp;#8212;your mouth goes dry.&amp;quot; He advised me to put a cough drop in my mouth. But I&amp;#39;m thinking, That&amp;#39;s going to be my blooper: The cough drop&amp;#39;s going to fly across the room! Doggone it. [Laughs.] So I opted not to.\nCL: Some said Republicans had selected a young woman to show that the party is open to women. Did that bother you?\nCMR: I think I was chosen because they see me as relatable. I have a wonderful husband, and we have three wonderful children&amp;#8212;one with special needs. It&amp;#39;s important for people to see [politicians]...as people who understand their challenges. That&amp;#39;s where women bring qualities people are looking for.\nCL: You&amp;#39;ve actively encouraged women to run for office. Why is that so important?\nCMR: The first time I walked into the House Republican Conference, I remember thinking, Wow, there&amp;#39;s a lot of men in this room.... Our voices are important. Our perspectives are important. We will have better legislation when more women are involved.\nPinterestFacebookRep. McMorris Rodgers with her husband, Brian Rodgers, and,  from left, Grace, Brynn, and Cole\nCL: Women must ask, &amp;quot;How am I going to do it and have a family?&amp;quot; Did that worry you?\nCMR: When I ran for Congress, I was single. I wondered, How is dating going to work? I thought my life was fulfilled and I was making a difference.... Maybe, you know, I wouldn&amp;#39;t get married, maybe not have kids.\nCL: A lot of high-profile women say they don&amp;#39;t have a &amp;quot;wife&amp;quot;: They&amp;#39;ve got a great husband, but they&amp;#39;re still responsible for their jobs and the home. It sounds like your husband does a lot of those &amp;quot;wifely&amp;quot; things.\nCMR: He couldn&amp;#39;t be more supportive. He&amp;#39;s retired now, but he spent 26 years flying for the Navy. He carries the load at home. It&amp;#39;s not what he imagined...but when I&amp;#39;m overwhelmed, he&amp;#39;ll say, &amp;quot;What more can I do?&amp;quot;\nCL: Women still frequently earn less than men. I know that you disagree with the Democrats on how to fix that, and you did not support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act [extending the statute of limitations for pay-discrimination lawsuits]. Why?\nCMR: Well, the Equal Pay Act has been the law of the land for over 50 years. We need to enforce that law. I support equal pay for equal work, but the Lilly Ledbetter Act was more of a treasure chest for trial lawyers.\nCL: You founded the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus after the birth of your son [Cole, seven, who has Down syndrome]. What progress have we made?\nCMR: I&amp;#39;m working on legislation to let families set money aside tax-free for someone with disabilities. It&amp;#39;s common sense.... When Cole was born, it&amp;#39;s tough news to receive. It&amp;#39;s not what you expect, yet I&amp;#39;m a better person because of Cole. The disabilities community celebrates every success.\nCL: You&amp;#39;ve been mentioned as a possible 2016 vice presidential candidate....\nCMR: Boy! My focus has always been on the people of eastern Washington.\nCL: I want to ask you some Glamour career Dos &amp;amp; Don&amp;#39;ts. Sending work emails from vacation. Do or Don&amp;#39;t?\nCMR: I try not to.\nCL: Crying at work. Do or Don&amp;#39;t?\nCMR: Limit it. But we all have our moments.\nCL: Isn&amp;#39;t that what the hideaway is for?\nCMR: Yeah! [Laughs.] That&amp;#39;s what the hideaway is for.\nPinterestFacebookRep. McMorris Rodgers before  a McDonald&amp;#39;s shift in 1987\nSECRETS OF THE OFFICE MASTER\nHow Rep. McMorris Rodgers keeps her super-packed life running smoothly\n__Q: Are you a believer in having girls&amp;#39; nights out with your coworkers?\nA:__ Absolutely! Any time you spend with your colleagues outside of the office helps build those relationships.\n__Q: Do you bring your kids to work?\nA:__ Yes. My kids have introduced me to people I never would have met&amp;#8212;and it&amp;#39;s bipartisan! It&amp;#39;s easy to have a conversation about kids.\n__Q: What do you tell the women you mentor?\nA:__ We still need to encourage women to &amp;quot;lean in&amp;quot; and assert themselves. It&amp;#39;s important that they believe in themselves and take risks."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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